AFAIK, it was out of operation when I started posting almost three years ago, so I have no clue. I figure I'm just going to start reading the stuff and posting my thoughts and hopefully other people join in!

It will be interesting to read "Restraint" because I have never read it. It's a shame that Lockdown won't be out until next year, as that would fit in this book list nicely.

Edit: So I did some research, for my above list, you only need five books:

Not sure if libraries carry omnibuses, but I'm sure a lot of libraries would have the other books, although they may not carry the more recent printing of Episode I: The Phantom Menace or Darth Maul, Shadow Hunter which contain the two new Luceno short stories.

I would really like to do these books. I also think it would be interesting to watch the Phantom Menace after reading the books. We then could have a discussion about how the books alter (or don't alter) how you view the movie.

Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 6:03 pm

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Crash OverrideMaster

Joined: 22 Dec 2010Posts: 1962

I suppose that I'll do the VP thing if people are interested. The EU surrounding Episode I ought to be interesting, and discussions about whether it improves the film or not.

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 6:02 pm

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Crash OverrideMaster

Joined: 22 Dec 2010Posts: 1962

To commemorate the upcoming tenth anniversary of the conclusion of the New Jedi Order series with the release of The Unifying Force (November 1, 2013), I've decided to time travel back to 1999. I've settled on a list of 20 novels. 2 e-books, a short story, and a serialized novella to read. The publication order and the chronological order of the stories are pretty similar:

Then there's the serialized novella by Greg Keyes called Emissaries of the Void which was released in six parts in SW Gamer magazine #8-10 and then SW Insider magazine #62-64 from Jan 2002 to Dec 2002.

The only deviations between publication date and the date of the story in-universe are Rogue Planet, which takes place fifty-four years prior to Vector Prime, the two e-books, with Recovery taking place between Balance Point and Edge of Victory: Conquest, The Apprentice taking place during Dark Journey, Ylesia taking place during Destiny's Way, and Emissaries of the Void, which occurs between Edge of Victory: Rebirth and Star by Star.

Despite the initial intent to read the stories in publication order, given the presence of only five deviations, I'm going to read them chronologically starting with Rogue Planet. Technically Rogue Planet is not a part of the New Jedi Order series, but it rounds out the number of novels to twenty and is also extremely relevant to the overarching plot to the series.

Is anyone else interested? Note: The Apprentice might be hard to acquire because AFAIK it hasn't been collected outside of SW Gamer 8, likewise for Emissaries of the Void, so they may be skipped if other people join in due to the difficulty in getting them.

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 6:56 pm

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1337JediKnight

Joined: 02 Sep 2012Posts: 489Location: Florida

I started my NJO run about 6 months ago, up to Balance Point right now, so I would be all about that list. Or any other list I am in. How long would we have to read each book? Per chapter breakdown or like 3 at a time?_________________Mara: "Not many people Dare to hug me"
Lando: "That leaves more of you for me then!"

"Sure I can't move a rock with my mind, but, boy can I make that rock think its been moved."

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:49 pm

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Crash OverrideMaster

Joined: 22 Dec 2010Posts: 1962

Well, if we do a book a week, and do the duologies in a week (Dark Tide, Agents of Chaos, Edge of Victory, and Enemy Lines), and couple Recovery with Edge of Victory and read Ylesia between chapters 21 and 22 of Destiny's Way, then The Unifying Force would be completed just prior to the 10th anniversary of its release. That would include reading each Force Heretic novel a separate week, since those novels are quite a bit larger than the other duologies. I don't know how realistic that is depending upon people's schedules.

I'm also not counting The Apprentice and Emissaries of the Void due to the potential difficulty of acquiring them. There's another short story called "Or Die Trying" that was written by Williams and Dix that is set around Refugee but that was published in 2004 after the series concluded and is somewhat tangential, whereas The Apprentice and Ylesia were actually excised portions of Dark Journey and Destiny's Way, respectively, and Recovery is sort of a crucial bridge between Balance Point and Rebirth, albeit published after the latter. It's a shame that The Apprentice isn't readily available.

Emissaries of the Void is wholly tangential to the main series as it stars characters that otherwise do not appear in it AFAIK, and I haven't read it, but it would be an interesting read simply for the novelty as well as due to it being penned by Greg Keyes. Unlike the comic series Invasion, it was also written while the series was still ongoing, so it may have some interesting insights that weren't added after the fact.

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 9:26 am

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ReepicheepMaster

Joined: 05 Feb 2008Posts: 6956Location: Sailing into the unknown

I think I would be able to do this._________________
Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 3:29 pm

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1337JediKnight

Joined: 02 Sep 2012Posts: 489Location: Florida

I would love to try, but I honestly don't think I can bang out a book a week with my work schedule...... What is everyone els's view on the speed at which we should read them?_________________Mara: "Not many people Dare to hug me"
Lando: "That leaves more of you for me then!"

"Sure I can't move a rock with my mind, but, boy can I make that rock think its been moved."

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 4:16 pm

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Crash OverrideMaster

Joined: 22 Dec 2010Posts: 1962

It's not a big deal for me. I didn't think it would be practical if other people joined in, especially since for weeks 3, 4, 6, and 9, it would be two books a week.

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 7:36 pm

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ReepicheepMaster

Joined: 05 Feb 2008Posts: 6956Location: Sailing into the unknown

I'd rather take it slow. I'm generally a slow ready anyway and it would give us more time for discussion._________________
Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:30 pm

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1337JediKnight

Joined: 02 Sep 2012Posts: 489Location: Florida

^ I agree If we can slow it down a bit, it would give more time for a thorough break down, without having to sum up so many chapters at once._________________Mara: "Not many people Dare to hug me"
Lando: "That leaves more of you for me then!"

"Sure I can't move a rock with my mind, but, boy can I make that rock think its been moved."

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:55 pm

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Crash OverrideMaster

Joined: 22 Dec 2010Posts: 1962

Well, you guys set the pace. Just keep in mind that a month per book would result in a 20+ month duration. Biweekly would be 40+ weeks.

I'm on chapter 11 of Rogue Planet currently. Some things of note:

Click here to see the hidden message (It might contain spoilers)

Obi-Wan hears Qui-Gon's voice talking to him, but thinks he's hearing things. Anakin is more mature than you would think at age 12, but deeply troubled. Vergere's master, Thracia Cho Leem, has apparently left the Jedi Order and had multiple families, though I suspect that her words may not be entirely literal -- plus the book was published in early 2000 when the EU was giving Ki-Adi-Mundi wives so. Tarkin is a jerk.

The Yuuzhan Vong first appeared in the Star Wars galaxy at the same time Episode I was going on (apart from Canderous' asteroid, I suppose, and the Slave Pits of Lorrd thing).

Sienar designed Maul's Scimitar for a shadowy client, and it was obviously written to be Sidious, but in retrospect it may very well have been Hego Damask, though I suspect there's a subsequent insinuation that the Scimitar was based upon a Rugess Nome design.

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 5:38 pm

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ReepicheepMaster

Joined: 05 Feb 2008Posts: 6956Location: Sailing into the unknown

Crash Override wrote:

Well, you guys set the pace. Just keep in mind that a month per book would result in a 20+ month duration. Biweekly would be 40+ weeks.

Honestly, I'd be fine with a 20 month span. I'm not going anywhere. For those (if there are any) who want to shorten the length, maybe two books a month?_________________
Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 6:12 pm

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Crash OverrideMaster

Joined: 22 Dec 2010Posts: 1962

Click here to see the hidden message (It might contain spoilers)

An interesting scene I found:

Obi-Wan smiled and shook his head. "The unknown is a place where we can discover who we truly are."
Anakin regarded his master with some surprise.
"So Qui-Gon taught me," Obi-Wan concluded, drawing the long sleeves of his robe in over his booted knees.
page 93 of hardcover

I'm on chapter 15 now, but there's 67 chapters and a coda, and chapters can vary in length to as short as a page or two. Chapter 15 is on page 103 of the hardcover.

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 4:15 pm

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PadawanSparklesPadawan

Joined: 17 Jun 2013Posts: 29

I would love to join the bookclub. I'll take a look if I can get my hand on the books on the list.

Since I'm still pretty new to the EU I'm not really familiar with the setting of the books on list so if anyone could fill me in via a PM or something (I don't want to clutter the thread), that would be great!^^

Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 12:16 pm

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Taral-DLOSMaster

Joined: 23 Nov 2010Posts: 1727Location: Ontario, Canada

I'm down for a 20-month book club. I want to get back into Star Wars reading, and this'll be good.

Regarding "Emissary of the Void": I haven't read the whole thing, but if memory serves it has only one very tangential link to the main NJO plot. I seem to recall that Uldir Lochett (the main character in Emissary of the Void) is referenced in either Edge of Victory or Star By Star. Possibly having to do with the Voxyn.

It is such an off-hand reference though that I remember fully understanding it even without reading EOTV. So we can skip it easily._________________"I'm...from Earth."